Red vs blue.
As a tradition of RTS games, team colors are used to distinguish different side during a battle. The rules vary for each game.
Contents
Warcraft: Orcs & Humans
A map showing two human armies of different team colors.
The color of each side is hardcoded in both campaigns. Since most battles are usually orcs versus humans there is not much room left for confusion, but two missions are actually humans versus humans and orcs versus orcs. There are unique hero units but without specific team colors.
You can't select your team color in multiplayer games. You will be assigned the team color usually associated to your race, unless your opponent is playing the same faction.
| Team color | Used by |
|---|---|
| Blue | Kingdom of Azeroth, Blackhand loyalists[1] |
| Red | Horde, Northshire Valley brigands[2] |
Warcraft II
In Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness and Beyond the Dark Portal each faction on a map must now have a different color, even when fighting on the same side, which is why many orcish clans and human kingdoms were created and are displayed on the ranking board at the end of a game. Most playable hero units such as Anduin Lothar, Uther Lightbringer, and Cho'gall are depicted using the Violet color to distinguish them from their surrounding troops, though this isn't always true.
You still can't select your team color in multiplayer games. You will be assigned a team color randomly among eight available.
| Team color | Alliance side | Horde side (ToD) | Horde side (BtDP) | Others |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Blue | Nation of Azeroth, Alliance Expedition | Stormreaver Clan | Flowerpicker Clan | Dentarg |
| White | Nation of Lordaeron | Dragonmaw Clan | Shattered Hand Clan | Tomb of Sargeras Guardians[3] |
| Red | Nation of Stromgarde | Blackrock Clan | Warsong Clan | |
| Green | Nation of Kul Tiras | Bleeding Hollow Clan | Bonechewer Clan | Zuljin,[4] Tomb of Sargeras orcs[3] |
| Black | Nation of Gilneas | Black Tooth Grin Clan | Shadowmoon Clan | Forest trolls,[4] Deathwing[5] |
| Violet | Nation of Dalaran, Alliance Expedition[5] | Twilight's Hammer Clan | Thunderlord Clan | |
| Orange | Nation of Alterac | Burning Blade Clan | Bleeding Hollow Clan | |
| Yellow | Alliance Traitors | Horde Traitors | Laughing Skull Clan | Teron Gorefiend |
Notes
- Warcraft Adventures: Lord of the Clans added another yet undepicted orcish clan, Frostwolf clan, whose color was blue.
- The Lord of the Clans novel added another human faction, Blackmoore's internment camp troops, which wore red and gold livery.[6]
- With time the national colors of the Alliance-side factions were generally respected. Lordaeron became a mix of white and blue as the other main playable human nation. The Syndicate took on the orange color of the fallen kingdom of Alterac.
- The Horde-side factions however usually lost their clans color with Warcraft III and especially World of Warcraft, with exception of the Frostwolf and Twilight's Hammer clans.
The ranking board, displaying each team color.
Stormreaver clan versus Lordaeron.
Warcraft III
Please add any available information to this section.
In Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos and The Frozen Throne there are no more unique colors associated to each factions, many different factions can now share the same color depending on context. Heroes are also surrounded by an aura matching their team color to distinguish them from other units. With this and the fact that they have unique models now, heroes are no longer distinguished by having a different team color in the campaign maps.
In multiplayer you can finally choose any color between 12 (classic) and 24 (Reforged) available.[7]
| Team color | Human Alliance side | Orcish Horde side | Undead Scourge side | Night Elf Sentinels side | Others |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Blue | Most Alliance forces | ||||
| Cyan | Kingdom of Lordaeron and Knights of the Silver Hand | Most Sentinel forces | |||
| Red | Most Horde forces | Tichondrius | |||
| Green | Kingdom of Kul Tiras | ||||
| Black | |||||
| Violet | Warsong clan | Most Scourge forces | |||
| Orange | |||||
| Yellow |
World of Warcraft
As it is heavily inspired by its RTS roots, World of Warcraft displays many factions with strong color schemes, but those are usually now carried through tabards and standards, as faction-specific NPCs and mobs usually carry more elaborate equipment than just having a single team color. For example, the Scarlet Crusade is emblematic for having red armor, but they also prominently feature white, gold and black colors. Some factions are still referencing their RTS days however, with the Amani trolls of Zul'Aman retaining their iconic red mohawks from Warcraft II.
References
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